National Register reference number.78001998- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1918 to 1991
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
73 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19181991
The ground it stands on
7,452 words
The chapter on Tiffin Township in History of Adams County, Ohio, published 1900 names West Union. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Joseph Eyler built the first cabin in this township where he afterwards made his home near Killinstown, in the winter of 1795. The Eyler farm of 300 acres is now owned by John Crawford, Samuel Mc- Feeters and Sandy Craigmile. When Rev. James B. Fintey passed over Tod's Trace from Limestone to Chillicothe with his father's cattle and "niggers" in 1796, he noted the fact that there was a cabin near where the town of West Union now stands, built by Mr. Oiler, but no one lived in - it. Daniel Collier, about this time, selected a site for his future home on one of the most beautiful terraces along Ohio Brush Creek, known to this day as the "Collier farm." Just below him on the creek was Duncan McKenzie. Andrew Ellison took up his residence on Lick Fork near the old stone house which he built in 1798, where the town of Waterford was laid out. Richard Harrison about the same time located at Waterford and kept a tavern there. John Treber built a cabin in 1796 a half mile further down Lick Fork where the old tavern building yet stands, and Peter Shoemaker, Simon Shoemaker, John Shepherd, and Thomas Davis located near by on Ohio Brush Creek. Job Dinning, John Killin, Jacob Piatt, James Ralston, and Adam Hempleman located in the vicinity of Killinstown. Simon Fields settled further east on Brush Creek. George Harper, James Collins, James January and Robert Mc- Clanahan located near West Union.
Ohio Brush Creek, a beautiful little river, forms the northeastern and eastern boundary of the township. Lick Fork is its longest tributary in the township. It rises at a spring near West Union and flows north- east uniting with Ohio Brush Creek at the Sproull bridge. Beasley's Fork also takes its source from a spring in West Union, flows southeast and unites with Ohio Brush Creek opposite the Nathan Foster farm in Greene Township. A branch of the East Fork of Eagle Creek rises in the western part of the township and flows south along its western border.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Cockerill House
between 2003 and 2020, burning about 43 acres in total. None started naturally. 12 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Debris and open burning
16
Arson/incendiarism
12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
Smoking
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 727 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Cockerill House between 1866 and 1975: 407 Animalia, 205 Fungi, 97 Plantae, 18 Protozoa.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A JOHN, A. B. Seymour, A. Cronquist and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
1 working within 5 miles of Cockerill House: 1 producer.
All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
West Union, the town this property stands in, in 70 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 32 thunderstorm wind, 15 hail, 11 flash flood, 8 flood.
The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
The tornado touched down just east of Highway 41, about 2 miles northeast of West Union. The tornado then traveled east northeast for just over 11 miles, destroying at least 5 mobile homes. Two homes were also damaged. One of these homes was built of brick. A 99 year old woman was in her mobile home in Tiffin Township when the tornado struck. She was injured from this tornado and passed away several days later. Two others were also injured from this tornado. A dozen cattle were killed and major power transmission poles were knocked over. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Based on the damage surveyed, the maximum estimated wind speed of this tornado was 125 miles per hour.
A tornado touched down and tracked east along State Route 125. The greatest damaged occurred at a farm where four barns were damaged, one of which was completely destroyed. Two nearby homes and a church sustained minor structural damage. At least three dozen trees were also downed along the path of the tornado.
This thunderstorm had a long line of downbursts which caused damage to numerous trees, some of which fell on a house and a mobile home. Embedded within this path of damage was evidence that a tornado made brief touchdowns. In two different areas, tree damage showed twisting motion indicating that a tornado existed. Also, one home was knocked off its foundation in one of the areas where the tornado touched down. Winds from some of the downburst activity were near 100 mph.
Several trees were downed near State Route 125 and Ralston Road due to thunderstorm winds. Numerous trees and power lines were also downed between West Union and Blue Creek.
Several roads were flooded and closed with one to two feet of water rushing over them, including State Route 41 between State Route 136 and Panhandle Road. Numerous streams were out of their banks and overflowing roadways.
Heavy rain affected south central Ohio during the evening, with some locations receiving over one inch across Adams County. The heavy rain caused some high water over State Route 41 near Bentonville.
1 paper published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
size to those in the front, of the home. This window was partially bricked up in 1965 and DESCRIPTION CONDITION DETERIORATED weather-boarded. FAIR UNALTERED of the brick section originally had one window in the rear on the first floor equal in now visible is the second floor which has four single-sash windows.This side is now sash window matching the one on the east side was also installed on this side in 1965.
original brick house.The only portion of the original brick section on the south side four square wood columns representing "southern"influence.The east end of the brick home which made the new floor plan of the house rectangular.The east side of this frame CHECK ONE was built consisting ofa patio style brick floor and a two story high roof supported by The roof trim is wood and consists of boxed cornices with a plain frieze.The front of dow in the stone foundation with a flat brick arch with vertical joints..A small two- originally had a low gable roof of slate replaced in recent years by asbestos shingle.
with transom flanked on each side with two 2/2 windows on the first floor.All of these brick structure with a regular ashlar foundation.The brick is common bond and the home the home is five bays with five 2/2windows on the second floor and one central doorway installed in l965.This end also has a large chimney with a corbeled cap.
1600-1699 1500-1599 1400-1499 1700-1799 COMMERCE cont. Journalism RELIGION ENGINEERING COMMUNICATIONS EDUCATION ART INVENTION ARCHITECTURE POLITICS/GOVERNMENT THEATER TRANSPORTATION BUILDER/ARCHITECT PERIOD ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE INDUSTRY AGRICULTURE SCULPTURE LITERATURE SCIENCE Hamilton and Dayton, Ohio before accepting a reportorial position at the Cincinnati MUSIC promotion by Congress until after his resignation from the service.Cockerill's second St.
Louis Post-Dispatch, co-founder/editor of the Washington Post and editor of the SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN Regiment.He displayed gallantry during the Battle of Shiloh and was recommended by Baltimore Gazette, New York World, New York Morning Advertiser, and the New York XMILITARY OTHER(SPECIFY) Colonel on the staff of Governor William Allen in l872.John then edited newspapers in and was a pioneer in the use of photographs in daily newspapers.Cockerill is also and lived in this home from l850 to 1868.After serving as a drummer in the Civil War Joseph R.
Cockerill Scion.In l863 he became part owner and editor of The Democratic Union also in West Enguirer.He later became editor of the Enquirer as well as co-founder/editor of the commissioned by Ohio Governor Todd in 186l as Colonel of the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry -PHILOSOPHY Union.He served as Journal Clerk in the Ohio Legislature from 1868 to 187l-and was X1900- COMMUNITY PLANNING Cockerill served in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1852-53 and 1868-72. He was credited as being one of the first syndicated newspaper columnists and originated the Generals Grant and Sherman for promotion to Brigadier General.He was not given this PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC in l862,John started a career in journalism setting type for the West Union Commercial Advertiser.
He was a special war correspondent for the New York Herald at the time of his death.John A. Cockerill is known as the "Father of the New Journalism XLAW
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 78001998, 14 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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